


Peace in Snow

by TheSultansDaughter



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rhaegar Won, Angst, Bittersweet, F/M, King Rhaegar, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 23:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSultansDaughter/pseuds/TheSultansDaughter
Summary: "There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him." - Daenerys, ADWD





	Peace in Snow

The War of the Usurper had taught Rhaegar much about choice. On the day of his solemn coronation he vowed his children and siblings would marry whom they desired so long as they were of noble birth. Rhaegar did this in Lyanna’s memory with the hopes that their mistakes would never lead to another war and another princess, beautiful and wilful, to be dead before her time. 

The smallfolk, the people whom Rhaegar cared for most, applauded his decision. There was nothing quite so grand to them as to see a Prince and Princess truly in love. 

To keep peace with Dorne he never tells the world of his marriage to Lyanna. He burns the record of the annulment to Elia, has the Septon disappear to Lys and he sends their son north. Little Jaeharys would live his life as Jon the bastard of Winterfell. It was wrong, cruel even, but even as a squealing newborn he looked just like her and Rhaegar couldn’t bear to look at him. Ned and Catelyn Stark would love him in all the ways Rhaegar could not. 

He has every statue and image of the Mother remade in Elia’s likeness. Her tomb in the great Sept is the grandest of any king or queen in all of Westerosi history. Rhaegar knows that a beautiful grave is no consolation for the wrong he did her, but what more can he do but have the people worship for the angel she was and hold their children close.

The only things he doesn’t have the heart to burn is Lyanna’s silver wedding dress and the glittery hair fastenings Ashara had lent her for the occasion. Every time he closes his eyes he can still see her standing there beneath the tree, her hair had smelled of roses, her cheeks clumsily painted with Ashara’s rouge. 

The war had nearly cost Rhaegar all. Lyanna bled to death in her birthing bed, thousands of miles away from her family because of him. Elia had been raped, defiled and murdered because of him. His children nearly murdered by that monster Clegane because of him. His city had been sacked but it would have been burned to the ground had it not been for Jaime Lannister. Jaime. Rhaegar thanked the gods for Jaime every day and night. Had Jaime not stabbed his father Aerys in the back, cut Clegane's head off, protected the children with his life and convinced the lion troops to stop… Rhaegar did not want to think of that path. 

**

Aegon is a good son, the best one could ask for. He’s healthy, strong and kind. His laughter always echoes through the corridors of the Red Keep like the sweet songs Dany sings to herself while she embroiders.

Ladies follow him about the court, but he takes none to bed. 

When Viserys mocks him for it Aegon puts him in his place. 

Aegon has his uncle Oberyn’s sharp tongue and a wit that cut like a sword. 

Aegon and Tyrion Lannister, a ward of the crown, are inseparable. As children they chased Dany through the rose gardens, frolicking through the fountains, making her squeal with delight as they splashed her. The three of them make quite the troop. Their camaraderie and Dany’s beaming violet eyes (their mother’s eyes) are the only things that makes Rhaegar smile anymore. 

One week after Rhaenys quietly weds Willas Tyrell in the sept of the Red Keep, Aegon tells him that as a man of 22 he is ready to wed. Rhaegar wonders who the bride would be. Would it be Margaery Tyrell, Sansa Stark or perhaps comely Jeyne Westerling who served as Rhaenys’ companion. 

“I would wed Daenerys father, with your blessing of course,” Aegon says hopefully.

**

When he speaks with his sister of the matter she blushes prettily. Daenerys was beautiful, even Rhaegar had to admit she stirs some passion inside of him, what little passion he had left. She is also gentle but quiet like a brewing summer storm, the kind where it rained violently with the sun still shining. 

The court knew of her anger and how fearsome it could become when roused. 

When she’d had just enough of Viserys, she struck him with her dragon pendant and screamed for all to hear. 

_“The next time you lay a hand on me brother, will be the last time you have hands.”_

Viserys never bothered her again. He still covered the scar with ridiculous Tyroshi make-up. A style he and Renly Baratheon (another crown ward) insist on wearing. 

When Rhaegar needed guidance of matters of the realm it was Dany he turned to, not his small council. She was wiser than all his councillors put together and she knew the common people best because she walked among them. She walked the streets of Flea Bottom with a harp in her hands, as he did once. She prayed with them in smaller Septs by Blackwater Bay and kissed the brows of orphans she cared for.

She converted a rundown shop in the centre of Flea Bottom into the most beautiful orphanage Rhaegar had ever seen. It had a red door with a dragonhead knocker made of bronze and a courtyard full of lemon trees. Some of the smallfolk had taken to calling her Mother like the goddess they prayed to.

Dany likes to call it home, though Rheagar must admit that he still doesn’t know what that means to her. 

Rhaegar had a home once, but she was gone now. 

**

“I want to marry him,” Dany says quietly but strongly laying her exquisite needlework aside. “I love him dearly and it would make me very happy.”

“Are you very sure Dany,”

I am brother, truly.”

She smiles sweetly and Rhaegar’s heart nearly bursts.

**

Rhaegar allows them to court openly. Viserys pouts about it for a time until he sets his sights on Arianne Martell. Thankfully they cause minimal trouble. 

They announce the engagement at the next tourney where Aegon crowns Dany his Queen of Love and Beauty with a garland of yellow roses, yellow like the lemons on her orphans’ trees. The crowds roar with cheers and applause for the prince and princess. 

The sight and sound of it almost too much for Rhaegar to bear. Not so long ago he had crowned his princess of choice with roses, a choice that set the world on fire. He weeps into Lyanna’s dress that night. He’s so consumed with grief he doesn’t hear Dany sneak inside his room. He barely feels her arms wrap around him in comfort.

**

When Aegon and Dany wed in the Great Sept of Baelor the people’s joy can be heard over the Septon’s words. The Crown Prince was joyously in love with his bride of choice, a princess in her own right.

The sight of beautiful Dany smiling brightly on Aegon’s arm in Lyanna’s silver wedding dress, the fastenings glittering in her hair, is the sight of Rhaegar’s first good decision in nearly 20 years. 

At the feast, watching Aegon twirl Dany around the great hall, Rhaegar wonders absentmindedly what their mother Rhaella would think. Would she be happy? 

The day after the wedding, Rhaegar Targaryen, First of his Name, announces his abdication, proclaiming Aegon and Dany as King and Queen of Westeros. Rhaegar places his crown on his son’s head while all the smiles died around him. He then reaches into an intricate wooden box on the table of still unopened wedding presents behind him. From inside he takes a delicate silver circlet with intricate designs of their house sigil inlaid with diamonds. Dany closes her eyes as Rhaegar places it on her head. 

Then, Rhaegar rides north dressed in black. With the kingdom left in his sweet sister’s hands, he can find peace in snow.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic started off as an Aegon/Dany one-shot, and then I thought it would be cool to write it from Rhaegar's POV, and after that it became something else entirely. When I originally posted this I didn't imagine the comment section would become so....enflamed. 
> 
> One person in the comments brought up the idea of a companion piece to go along with this, which I didn't intend originally, but now I'm brainstorming. If you have any suggestions on what you'd be interested in seeing or questions you'd like answered, let me know below!


End file.
